Rooke
Marshall awoke to the sound of the oven door closing. He stretched and got out of bed, ignoring his slippers. He walked down the hallway to the kitchen where his aunt and his roommate were eating breakfast. "Morning." Marshall sleepily let out a greeting. He sat down on a stool at the island and grabbed a plate. Marshall's aunt, Penny Yearling, handed her nephew his breakfast. "I made bacon and biscuits. Hope you like 'em." "It's really good, Marshall." His friend who had been living with them for years, Amaya Reed, took a bite of a biscuit. Penny started up a conversation as she took her plate to the sink. "So, how's your mom, Amaya?" "She's good. She said the business trip in Hala is going really well. I heard she is closing a deal." "Aw, well that's good. And your dad?" "He's really happy to see her. They rarely get to see each other, maybe once a year." "That's great, hon. I--" She was abruptly interrupted by a knock at the door. She walked over to the door and looked.through the peephole to discover it was her neighbor, Charlie Bench. She opened the door and motioned him inside. "Good day, Ms. Yearling. I went down and got today's paper for you." "Why thank you, Charlie! And what are you up to today?" "Painting! I've taken up a great interest. It really is soothing, don't you think?" "Oh sure." "Well, I better hop to it then! See you around!" He then exited the room and Penny sat back down. "That was a nice visit. Anyways, I gotta get ready for work." "Don't worry, I'll do the dishes." Amaya offered. ... Marshall entered Plant Empire and placed his cap on the hatrack by the door. Wen Li, like most other days around that time, was tending to his prized orchids. Adrien Chao was sweeping up behind the counter. "Hey Adrien, Mr. Li." "Good morning, Marshall." Wen Li greeted. "What's up?" Adrien asked. "Well, my neighbor has taken up painting." "Sounds fun." ... Amaya thought to herself as she washed a plate. Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as the phone rang. She picked it up and discovered shocking news. ... Penny and Amaya burst through the door of Plant Empire, startling a customer in the process. The customer gave them a dirty look as they made their way to the back to talk to Adrien and Marshall. "Guys, we have urgent news." Amaya said frantically. Marshall sat down and wiped the sweat off of his face. "What is it?" "Amaya's mother was detained by the Royal Family of Hala. We need to go there and find out why." "Detained? Why would they detain a businesswoman?" Marshall questioned. "I don't know but we are going to find out." Amaya responded. ... Charlie was painting a beautiful, autumn landscape. Crisp, brown maple falling from the trees. An old, rustic park bench. An old man was sitting on the park bench, feeding the pigeons. His tranquil painting was interrupted as Penny knocked on Charlie's door. He set his paintbrush and color palette down and opened the door happily. "What can I do ya for, neighbor? "Well, we need to go away for a little while and our cat and houseplants need to watched, and our mail picked up. Would you mind doing that? We won't be gone for much longer than a week." "Why, anything for a fellow neighbor!" "Thank you so much, Charlie. You are a godsend. Remember, water the plants once a day and feed the cat two to three times a day." "No problemo!"